Maria aka Adelhaid is coming from Moscow with one of the most cohesive and best-organized cosplay crews. She can pinpoint the limits of the perfect – but overused – indoor shooting studio. Even searching for the right feathers or the perfect sun-tan can became a nuisance, and the fact that the costume will outlive its cosplaying purpose and extend into local Theater schools makes it worth it! As always, beside phenomenal sewing skills, elaborate cosplaying requires a keen eye for locations, abandoned or not, for historical spots, meet-up group activities and countryside backdrops.

You seem to have a tendency towards Victorian-like gowns. Is this one of the criteria when you choose what character to portray? Which characters do you find the easiest to relate to?

Adelhaid: When I was a child, there was one time I had no costume for the New Year’s party at school. My mom gives this as a reason to why I sew so many dresses today. Of course, it is a joke. I like gowns based on some historical period, as I take classes of historical dance. At the same time I am fond of costumes that have some ethnic details. But it is not the only criterion when I choose a new character. It is very important for me to have some resembling personal qualities with the character, or to feel attracted to the character for some reasons. I’ve never made a costume of someone who I dislike. Also the appearance of the character is important. I think the most suitable characters for me are romantic fair-haired girls and women wearing dresses with frills, or young men. But the easiest is not always the most favorite.

So far, which cosplay has managed to put all your skills to the test and why?

Adelhaid: I think that the Lilith Sahl(Trinity Blood novels, illustrated by Shibamoto Thores) costume was the most complicated one, as I had not only been sewing and embroidering, but also made six wings and a lot of extra stuff. Besides, Lilith has bronze tan. And there are beautiful blue paintings on her face, arms and body. Even on her ears. I’ve chosen this character as her quiet confidence, ability to empathize and gentle beauty attracted me. I decided to make this cosplay for one of the festivals in Moscow, to accompany my friends who were making Abel and Cain from Trinity Blood. This dress was the most detailed and beautiful from Lilith’s costumes that had coloured illustrations.

I was inspired by Indian national clothes(sari) and Thai dancers costumes while I was sewing a white part of the gown. But I didn’t copy their patterns because they didn’t match this suit. First I wanted to make it a one piece dress, but I had to change my plan as I understood that it would be faster to make two separate pieces. I made something like a body shirt with the deep cut that could bare the navel and the skirt. When I wear the corset on top of them, everybody thinks it is a dress. The corset and the collar are made from silver imitation of leather. I’ve used plastic boning and a metal plate with a figured cut for the corset. Both are embroidered with jingles and beads and painted with acryl. The real problem was the collar’s pattern. Usually I have no need to remake details of the costume, but the first version of the collar was very uncomfortable. It troubled me, and I had to wear the gown for several hours at the festival. Luckily I tried on the collar and casually turned its top feet. It was much better that way. I remade some parts and got a nice result.

The bracelets and earrings were rather easy to make. I used foam and hot glue. When I finished them, the parcel with the rest of the jingles arrived and I could attach plenty of them to my costume. After that, it became a very musical one. When I hear jingle bells now, I always think about Lilith. It should be mentioned that I bought a lot of materials for my costume from abroad. Sadly, it is hard to find some of them in Russia, or they are extremely expensive here. One parcel with feathers was lost and I had no time to wait as the deadline was near. I had visited all shops in Moscow before I found the swan feathers of the needed colour. And I bought all that they had. I needed lots of feathers for six wings. There are four kinds of feathers there. Swan feathers for the main part, turkey and goose for the end of the wing and cock feathers. The wings are fixed by the special metal plate and corset. They are very effectively connected so I can make everything while wearing them.

While I was sewing and crafting, it crossed my mind to tan at the solarium. I tried it for the first time in my life. It was very pleasant to get there when it was cold and snowy outside. But it was kind of useless, as I still remained too pale. The make-up for this character takes a lot of time. First I make the skin bronze, and only after that my friend can draw patterns on me. Usually she draws on the body and I can draw on my face rather well.

The wig for the character is made from two long burgundy red wigs. I made a ponytail and additional hairpieces from one of them. Lilith has a very lovely hair dress with the adornment that we call horns. It is made from plastic and flowers. There is a comb in it to fix it under the tail. The hair dress turned to be heavy, but I like it greatly.

Your photo-shoots always seem to do the characters justice. How does the planning process for a shoot usually go for you? How hard do you find it to get into a character’s skin?

Adelhaid: For me, planning the photo-shoots is one of the best parts of this hobby. I can search for the suitable place for months. The websites about abandoned places, the LJ-groups dedicated to historical places, architecture, photos, they might all be useful. Usually I find some photos on the Internet; then read about the place. If I think there can be some troubles with the place, I go there without costume with some of my friends or alone. Sometimes I had to come up with the idea of the shoot after that, as the security of the place is rough or the place is not as nice as I thought. Sometimes I am looking for the place for one photo-shoot and find the perfect one for another. And photographers can also suggest great places. The easiest way is to take photos in the studio. But the best interiors are often used so many times, that it isn’t interesting to make photos there. So I prefer looking for some new places if it is possible.

I am not camera-shy and I like live action role-playing games so I have no big problems with photo-shoots. Cosplay is a great hobby not only because of the costume making, but also because you can play as your selected character for a bit. Sometimes you need to learn some new skills for it. For example, I learned how to snap a whip for Leon Belmont cosplay. And my dancing skills are very useful as I not only dance myself but I also can think up the dance scheme of the performance of my cosplay group.

You’re also part of the ‘Hide-out’ cosplay group. What can you tell us about your group?

Adelhaid: Hide-out cosplay group is my second family, I think. It started years ago from three people. They are still my best friends and our group has about ten members today. Also there are people from other teams who take part in our performances during festivals. I don’t know how it is abroad, but in Russia most cosplayers are part of some team.

I can’t say that our group needs a leader as we are friends, first of all, but for such occasions as festivals we usually decide that I should take this role. Anna(Faeryx) helps everybody with fabric design and machine embroidery if needed. Oleg(Desler) is our best armor-maker and the first driver. His all-terrain car is a real bless in the countryside. And our second driver Elena(Leetah) was the organizer of a festival in Moscow for some years, so she helps me a lot. It is important that the most part of the group’s members can sew for themselves. We also have the photographer (JustMoolti). While not part of the group, he takes the most part of our photos. I am proud to say that we are one of the best organized and united teams I know in Moscow. I think it is so because we distribute the duties well.

The small performances that we usually make are a bit humorous and at the same time have an unobtrusive moral. We often insert dancing and fencing in the sketches. So we need many rehearsals, and funny things happen during them sometimes. Once /strong>Oleg was fencing in a costume of Kamael from Lineage II and after the lunge he got a small stroke in the back of his head. His partner could not make it even for the mistake. And there were no people behind Oleg. He made another lunge and got the stroke again. After some time he figured out that it was his own Kamael’s wing that was striking him.

Adelhaid: As I make my costumes by myself I’ve got a lot of sewing skills and sometimes I sew for everyday life now. Also, I take commissions not only for cosplay, but also for ball gowns and LARP costumes. I was happy to find out that one of my dresses was used by theater school students.

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